Union Minister of State for Labour (Independent charge) and Bareilly MP Santosh Gangwar has written a letter to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath complaining that there is acute shortage of oxygen, medicine and beds in his parliamentary constituency.
He is the third BJP leader from UP to raise voice over the present health crisis in the state. Earlier the members of Parliament from Meerut and Mohanlalganj, Rajendra Agarwal and Kaushal Kishore respectively, had expressed similar complaint.
Santosh Gangwar’s letter came just days after his ministerial colleague Thawar Chand Gehlot lost his 44-year old daughter, Yogita Solanki to corona virus. Gehlot is the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment as well as the Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha.
Gangwar in his letter said that the district officials are not picking up phone calls and patients are subject to harassment from one hospital to another. The letter indicates the growing disquiet within the top brass of the BJP and RSS over the way the Centre and other state governments, especially of Uttar Pradesh, are tackling the challenge emerging after the second wave of COVID-19.
Gangwar’s open complaint came even after the Yogi government has taken strict action against any hospital or individual who genuinely raises the voice against the shortage of oxygen or bed. The Supreme Court has taken the state government to task for this unnecessary harassment of hospitals complaining about oxygen shortage.
Meanwhile, India officially witnessed slight fall in the number of cases and death due to pandemic. In the last 24 hours the country reported 3.66 lakh cases, down by about 38,000 from the previous day. Similarly, 3,754 people died in this period.
